LiTKHATURB.— Lightfoot, PhUippiant, p. 172; Sanday and Headlain, Roviaiis, p. 425, For later traditions, which have little value, see Ada Sanctorum, March, ii. 374.
2. Ptolemy's teacher, 2 Mac 1".
A. C. Headlam.
ARIUS ('ApT,5, 1 Mac 12'- *>), a king of Sparta In V.' the name appears in the corrupt form ol Aapeios ; in v.*' many MSS read 'Oi-iiipj/s or 'Ov(Lafn)i, a form produced by the combination of 'OkI? 'Aprjt (so V." in AV Oniares); but x ' 'OnoopTjj, Vet. Lat. Arius ; in Jos. Ant. XIII. v. 8, the reading varies between 'Apfiaos and 'kptit, the latter bemg the more correct form. The person referred to ia Areus I., the grandson and successor of Cleo- menes II., who was king of Sparta from 309 B C. to 265 B.C., and was contemporary with the high priest Onias I., the successor of Jaddua. The Spartans were at that time engaged in a struggle against Antigonus and his son Demetrius Polior- cetes, and they probably hoped to create difficulties for their opponent by raising disturbances in the East. Friendly letters were interchanged between Areus and Onias (probably about 300 B.C.); and Jonathan Maccabreus refers to these communica- tions in a letter which he sent by his ambassadors to Sparta (about 144 B.C.), 1 Mac 12'«-'»''-. Cf. Schurer, HJP I. i. 250 f. H. A. White.
ARK OF INFANT MOSES.— A box (n;if. tSbhah), made of bulruslies or pap_\Tus reeds, the stems of a succulent water plant, rendered watertiglit by layers of slimeand pitch, in which Moses when three months old was placed and committed to the river (Ex 2^). The word seemingly is of Egj-ptian origin, primarily meiining 'hollow,' 'a concave vessel,' and the possible source of the obscure Heb. root wliich appears in 'ob, ventriloquist, necromancer, ghost. PapjTus reeds were commonly used in Egypt for the construction of light boats. A very smiilar story of a remarkable presen-ation is told on a Babylonian tablet from Kouyunjik, aboutSargon I., a monarcli who reigned in Agade, one of the cities of the Euphrates valley, c. 3500 B.C. It is said (see Smith, ChaUkan Genesis, 880, p. 319) that his mother placed liini in a basket of rushes, sealing up his exit with bitumen, and launching him on a river which did not drown him, from which he was taken and brought up by his preserver.
J. MaCI'HERSON.
ARK OF NOAH.— The vessel built by the patriareh at God's command for saving life upon tlie earth during the great Flood. The period of detention within it is said to have lasted over a year (Gn 7" 8" P) ; hence it was necessary tliat large accommo- dation should be provided for the storage of provisions. The ark, in short, is to be conceived
AEK OF THE COVENANT
AKK OF THE COVENANT 149
of as an immense floating store, fitted to he »olidly on the surface of the waters. Its dimensions were : 300 cubits long, 50 cubits broad, and 30 cubits high. The length of the cubit is six hand- breadths, and is ujsually reckoned at 21 inches. In our measures, therefore, the ark would be 525 ft. long, 87i ft. broad, and 52J ft. \iitfU. In 1()U9, Peter Jansen of Horn in Holland built a vessel of the same proportions, and found that it would stow one-tliLrd more cargo than other ships of ordinary structure. It has been calculated that it would contain a space of 3,600,000 cubic ft. , and that after 9/10 had been set aside for storage of food, there would be over 50 cubic ft. each allowed for 7000 pairs of animals. Such calculations, though in earlier times treated with all seriousness, now receive little consideration. The measurements given in the biblical text are not sufficiently detailed, nor is the description of the whole con- struction sufficiently explicit, to form the basis of »uch conclusions. (See 13abylonia, Flood.)
The ark was built of gopher wood, supposed to mean pitch wood, and possibly, as Delitzsch suggests, the conifer cypress, much used by the Phanicians for shipbuildinj; on account of its lightness and durability. It was di\-idcd into ' rooms ' or ' nests,' O'jp. The wliole structure was three storeys in height, and was lighted by windows under the roof on each side. The pitch used to render the ark watertight was not vegetable, but mineral pitch or asphalt. Berosus, wTiting about B.C. 300, asserts that remains of the ark were then found in Armenia, which were use<i in making bracelets and amulets. Between the announcement to Noah of the coming Flood and the actual fulfilment of tlie judgment, there intervened, aoc. to Gn C (J), 120 years, and during that time the ark was building, and Noah was, by word and by act, a preacher of righteousness to his generation (1 P 3™, 2 P 2').
J. MACrHKRSON.
ARK OF THE COVENANT.— i. Name.— The ark dhNn) was the most ancient and most sacred of the religious symbols of the Heb. nation. Its name in the oldest sources is ' the ark of J"' (mrr piK), or ' the ark of God ' (cnSx "k). In Dt we first* meet with the degignation 'ark of the Covenant of J" {" n->3 "k), bt 10" 31'- "»•'«, shortened elsewhere to the familiar ' ark of the Covenant,' Jos 3'- • etc. In •everal passjigcs of the older hist, books (cf. LXX text of 1 S 4'°) which have been edited by writers of the Deuteronomic school, the earlier form ' ark of J"' has been expanded to 'ark of the Covenant of J"' (as is clear from such graiimiatical impossibilities as we find in .Jos 3""), and the favourite ex|)ri'S- sion 'ark of the Covenant' intentionally or unin- tentionally substituted for I he earlier forms. A •till later designation, ' ark of the testimony ' (n-vn "n), occurs only in P, Ex 25« etc. The rest of the names occasionally met with are merely variations of these. Throughout all the books we find ' the ark ' as the poi)ular and universjiUy intelligible designation.